Killer Citruz Cocktails at Farlows

NASH consultants Chris Eaglestone and Matt Rhodes have shared a brilliant haul at top day ticket venue Farlows in Buckinghamshire, taking advantage of the unseasonally mild conditions.

Meeting at the well rated winter fishery for a social session, Chris from South East London and Matt from Birmingham got stuck into the carp on the Smelly Bank, feeding heavily with crushed TG Active, hemp, maize and maggots.

‘I didn’t really stop and think about it too much but one of the bailiffs asked why I’d fed so heavily and it was just because we were still in Autumn weather, we hadn’t had a cold snap by then,’ said refrigeration engineer Chris, 32.

Laying a carpet of TG Active crumb, maggots and maize to a silty gulley between islands action came to Chris’ rods as soon as darkness fell. Continuing to feed the swim, he got through almost 15 kilos of his carpet feed in two nights, racking up seven Farlows carp, including three 20s to 23 lb. Maggot bunches or 10mm Citruz pop-ups tipped with maggots mounted on size 5 Twisters to 20 lb Combilink traces and 3 oz leads were the winning formula.

Matt, fishing in nearby peg 31 didn’t fare so well initially with just one aborted take for his efforts, but with Chris leaving and more bites to be had he extended his trip by 48 hours to follow in to the productive peg 33.

‘I decided to take another walk around to make sure I was happy to move in after him,’ explained Matt. ‘It seemed the lake had switched on overnight with several fish out. Chris had also had a few bites overnight and it was clear that fish were still there so peg 33 it was.

‘The first evening I was into my first fish, on my first visit and in my second swim. A short battle and the net cord went under a stunning chestnut mirror, 30 lb on the button. I was over the moon as you can imagine and within minutes the rod was clipped up and straight back on the spot. The rest of the night I had plenty of liners but no further bites.’

First light and Matt spotted carp fizzing over the spot before one bleep of an R3 and then it melted off. ‘A plodding battle, a couple of weedbeds and another lump was in the net, this time 30 lb 6 oz,’ Matt recounted.

The following 24 hours saw another 4 fish fall to the steadily baited area, Matt baiting with 2 Spombs every hour by day and 4 Spombs of feed every 3 hours during the dark hours to keep the action coming.

Like Chris, a cocktail hookbait scored for Matt with a Citruz 10mm pink pop up plus 7 maggots on a size 14 hook, pulled into the top of the bait on a size 5 Twister to 35lb Combilink ‘It was great to tick Farlows off the 'never been' list. It's a truly awesome day ticket lake with a lot to offer. Get yourself down there - January 30s to be had!’ Matt concluded.